Sophia Michaels
Directioners, it’s definitely not the time to give up hope for a One Direction renaissance. Ever since One Direction split in 2016, rumors have been circulating on pretty much a monthly basis about whether Harry Styles, Liam Payne, Louis Tomlinson, Niall Horan, and Zayn Malik will ever reunite. They’ve been dispelled time and time again, but according to Horan, although a musical reunion may not be on the way, the band is very much still in contact.
In a May 25 interview with E! News, Horan shared that the former bandmates still regularly correspond. “We’ve had three or four group chats,” he said, sharing that there’s now a new, particularly active one. “Some of them have been more quiet than others. This new one is definitely louder than most, and it’s been great,” he said. “I’m sure if I had a look at my phone in a few minutes I’d see some messages.” Still, when asked if any One Direction bandmates would appear on his forthcoming album, “The Show,” he had a clear response. “No,” he said. “Now that’s a straight and easy answer.”
Earlier in May, during an interview at a Wembley Arena boxing match on May 13, Horan’s fellow One Directioner Tomlinson also discussed the band’s new chat. “I don’t know,” he said when asked if he thought the group would reunite at any point, “but we’ve just made a new group chat. That’s something.”
In April, though, another One Direction member did seem to suggest that a One Direction collaboration or reunion could be on the horizon. Appearing on the last ever “The Late Late Show With James Corden” on April 27, Styles sat on the sofa with his longtime friend, Corden, and Will Ferrell. The three played a final game of “Spill Your Guts,” in which the celebrities get asked an awkward question and have to decide to answer or face a forfeit of eating something pretty disgusting. Styles was asked: “Yes or no, will there be a One Direction reunion? Will it ever happen?” As the crowd screamed, Styles answered: “I would never say never to that. I think if there was a time when we all felt that was what we want to do, then I don’t see why we wouldn’t.” Now, we don’t know about you, but that sounds like a (sort of) confirmation, right? Even Corden said: “I’m taking that as a yes!”
Social media had been alight with gossip that the boyband would all be appearing on “The Late Late Show”‘s last episode together. They have all appeared on the “Carpool Karaoke” segment previously, and played tattoo roulette, which ended with Styles getting the show’s logo inked on his arm. The four remaining members have all appeared on the show individually, too, but the TV reunion was swiftly denied in the run-up to the last show.
It was three years ago when the rumor mill last began spinning out of control as fans believed that One Direction would reunite for their 10-year anniversary in 2020. A decade had gone by since the band was formed on “The X Factor,” and Payne even got fans riled up by telling The Sun: “We’ve got a 10-year anniversary coming up, so we’ve all been speaking together a lot over the last few weeks which has been really nice,” he said. “To hear a lot of people’s voices and seeing old content and different things that we haven’t seen for a long time or never seen before, it’s very interesting. At the moment I’m not sure what I’m allowed to say.” Yet sadly, perhaps due to the COVID-19 pandemic, nothing came to fruition.
While the boys are no stranger to the reunion gossip, we have to admit there are clues that are stacking up. The members have all been spotted supporting each other individually, with Payne most recently attending the premiere of Tomlinson’s “All of Those Voices” film. Styles thanked his former bandmates as he collected his win at the 2023 Brits, and Horan and Payne congratulated him on his recent win at the Grammys. Styles added fuel to the fire when he posted a photo of him wearing a One Direction tshirt in the gym in March before quickly deleting it. And in August 2022, Malik took to Instagram to offer fans an acoustic snippet of “Night Changes.”
While there is no concrete evidence of a One Direction reunion in the works currently, it can’t be denied that the signs are adding up. And with Styles confirming he would be on board, we’ll be keeping an eye out for the “Little Things” pointing towards the big reunion moment.
